Jaime Camil is making history. Born in Mexico City, Mexico, the accomplished artist has earned many titles throughout his career. From radio commentator, actor, singer, broadway star, television personality, and now, the executive producer and host of LOTERÍA LOCA’, the first multicultural, bilingual, Latin-inspired show to ever appear on prime-time television. The project comes after Jaime became the first Latino to lead a comedy series on CBS since Desi Arnaz on “I Love Lucy” in 1951.
The show is based on the iconic Loteria game, which is believed to be introduced to Mexico in the late 18th century. With a tablero, beautifully animated cards, colorful characters, interactive challenges, and a goal of reaching three in a row, the first player to get three loterías plays solo in the million-dollar round. He is not the only talented person wtih Latin roots on the screen, they recruited the help of The Queen of Percussion, Sheila E., as the musical director and bandleader.
I think that it is extremely important to present diversity and inclusion, and it is important to show what happens in this country.
In an exclusive interview with HOLA! USA, the El Rey star, called the project a “labor of love,” making sure to note LOTERÍA LOCA was not a result of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and has been in the works for two years.
As the executive producer of the show, Jaime’s goal was to stray away from anything like ‘Taco Tuesday’ decorations. The set was important, and he worked closely with designers to make sure it adequately represented Mexican culture without being offensive or resorting to clichés and stereotypes that could potentially perpetuate misunderstandings or misrepresentations of the culture.
In front of the camera, his personality shines. His comedic timing is undeniable, and he can connect with whoever is in front of him. The world knows Jaime for his talent, infectious smile, and warmth, but he also has an incredible story full of resilience, triumph, and healing.
The mental health advocate has been very open for the last few years about his childhood and his relationship with his dad, Jaime Camil Garza, who passed away in 2020. While our interview with the 50-year-old father of two began with ‘LOTERÍA LOCA,‘ we had an opportunity to learn more about Jaime and what makes him - him. “Wow this just got deep,” he told us. Check out our interview below.
“I think that it is extremely important to present diversity and inclusion, and it is important to show what happens in this country.” - Jaime Camil -
This is the first multicultural, bilingual, Latin-inspired show to ever appear on prime-time television. You’re a pioneer for diversity and representation, and now we have this amazing game that is a staple for many Latinos, with many different colors playing it.
I think that it is extremely important to present diversity and inclusion, and it is important to show what happens in this country. For immigrants, we live here, and we speak English, and then we turn to our friends from Mexico, and then we talk to each other in Spanish, and then I turn to you, and I continue in English, and it’s super organic and natural. This is why when I say “La Sirena,” the “Mermaid” I don’t go like, “La Sirena, and that means mermaid.” Like, no, we’re not indoctrinating anyone. It’s just how it is. The game is played in Spanish, and the cards are in Spanish, so we just say, “el delfín, the dolphin. Let’s see how much money is behind the Dolphin.” It’s completely natural, completely organic, and not like, “You need to learn this culture. You need to embrace this culture.”
Tell me a little about Sheila E leading the band and your experience working with her...
Well, that was my producer and my producing partner. Jeff [Apploff] is Sheila’s neighbor, believe it or not. So Jeff went to her and said, ‘Hey, listen, we have this concept, blah, blah, blah.’ And she immediately said, yes, thank God. And it was so cool to have her because I got sick during the tapings, and every single day she texted me, “Hey honey, how are you feeling? I hope you’re feeling better. You crushed it yesterday. It was a very good show...” I mean, she’s such a kind soul, such a kind human. I was so lucky to have her in my life and to have her a part of the show, and she’s just amazing. You saw the first episode, but as the episodes progress, we interact way more with each other.
“We’re making history. It’s never been done. And to be a part of something again, making history, 2023, that we have a bilingual, multicultural game show on national television is amazing! Jaime Camil is amazing. He’s an amazing host. He’s an entertainer.” - Sheila E.
How did observing the contestant’s decisions and strategies on the show kind of alter your perception of human nature in terms of who was willing to risk it all for a million dollars? I mean, it’s probably fascinating to watch.
It is fascinating, and it’s a great question because as a host, I didn’t want to go on television and, ‘Hi, my name is Jaime. This is the game. These are the rules. Play. Oh, you win. Great. See you next time. Oh, you lose. Oh, tough luck. Bye.’ No, I’m an actor. So I feed off interaction with my fellow actors. So I really wanted to connect with the contestants, and I read their bio, and I talked to them before the taping. I took like 10, 15 minutes to interact with them and talk about their families, and whatever. And I think that comes across on the show. I mean, time permitting, right? Because you have to do a game show and you have to follow the process, and they need to choose the numbers and whatever. But whenever we had a little time to talk to them about their family and what they were doing, I took advantage of that. But it was fun. And then you think that this person, like the gambler, we had a guy that loved gambling, and he was super safe. He walked out very early in the game, and we were like, ‘Wow, I thought he was going to go for more or something.’ Yeah, it is fascinating how people react. And hey, even though you have the possibility of winning $1 million every single episode, when you have over $100,000 in your pocket, you think it through, like do you want to risk it all and keep playing for the million dollars, or you want to leave now with this money? And most of them leave, although some of them really risk everything. I mean, the series came out fascinating. It was super fun. And we had a holiday special, dia de muertos special, Twins special, Heroes special. It was a very complete season.
What is your personal relationship with Loteria? Did you play growing up with your family?
Ask any Mexican that question, anyone - just randomly pick a Mexican. Every single Mexican family in the world owns a Loteria set. Every single one of them. There’s not one that doesn’t own a Loteria set. It was such a natural game for my family. It wasn’t like, ‘Okay, let’s make it a moment.’ We’re going to play Loteria. It was so like, ‘Should we play bingo?’ ‘Yeah, sure, let’s play Bingo.’ It’s so embedded in our culture. It’s so natural and normal to have a Loteria set and all of a sudden play because you’re bored or want to get the family together.
Games are ways for families to spend time together. I think it’s so special too, especially old board games like Loteria where it’s just a piece of paper and frijoles. Is that something that you incorporate with your family today?
Yes, we have a Loteria set, a hundred percent. I think the last time we played Loteriia was maybe two weeks ago.
And how do your kids take winning and losing?
*laughs* They are leaders. Both of them are leaders, and they like to win, but every time they get a little upset, we take an opportunity to teach them that it’s not about winning or losing. I mean, we tell them it’s great that you are a go-getter, and that’s an amazing personality trait, and we’re super proud of that, but it’s not the end of the world if you win or lose. It’s more about the process and having fun during the process, not so much about winning or losing. So they take it well.
Jaime’s family: Jaime Camil III, Jaime Camil, Elena Camil, Heidi Balvanera
Is that kind of the same way that your parents would navigate your reaction to winning and losing?
No, not at all. I am a way better parent than my parents. No, no. My dad was very competitive. He always wanted to win. Actually, he forced me to cheat when we played Monopoly. Let’s say I was giving him the exchange or buying a property or something, it was 50 bucks or whatever. So I put $50, $500, and another $50 on the other side of the $50. It was crazy, and I was so uncomfortable about doing this, but no, he was crazy competitive.
When you think about competition, is there one specific memory that comes to mind with your career where you desperately wanted to win, but you lost?
Honestly, no. I’ve had the feelings of, let’s say you audition for a project, and you’re perfect for the project, and then you don’t get the project, and then you see the other actor. If the actor is amazing, you’re like, right on. But if the actor is super mediocre compared to you and you knew that you could have gotten that role, that pisses me off a little bit, but not in a, ‘I wish him no success.’ Because not wishing someone’s success, it’s karma. Eventually, it’s going to come back and bite you in the ass. There’s no way to avoid that. So you might feel bitter about it, but I never wish anyone bad, anyone. I wish success for everyone. And of course, when you’re older, you understand it better, and you learn how to process those feelings. When I was younger, yes, I was jealous, and I was a little bummed, and ‘oh s**t, I should have done that.’ And maybe my energy towards that was a little bit different than the energy that I feel now, or that I process now. But sometimes, in Latin American countries, you see people rejoicing when other people fail, and that’s super f***ed up. That’s super horrible because an individual’s lack of success at a specific moment should not be linked to the success of another person. So that’s an important thing to understand. Maybe it’s not your moment right now. Maybe you are pursuing the wrong thing, or you’re putting your energy where you’re not supposed to put your energy. Maybe you’re not looking or paying attention to the signs. It may be a combination of elements of why things might not be happening to you or for you. To have healthy competition is good, otherwise, people would not thrive in sports if you don’t have this competition. But I think that’s a different competition.
“... Some moments are really, really tough in life, but I will venture to say that even during those really tough moments if you try to be as lighthearted as possible, even within the circumstances, you’ll be happier.”
The show is hilarious. Listening to some of your interviews, even when you’re sharing tragic stories, you always find a way to make a joke or make it funny. I know comedy is very important to you. How has that shaped your perspective on life, and how has comedy helped you navigate both the highs and the lows?
Well, it’s because it is a choice to face obstacles and difficulties in life with a good face, or a bad face. I’m not saying that some obstacles aren’t serious and come with psychological repercussions, it’s not like, ‘Oh, smile, and everything will be fine.’ No, I mean, of course, some moments are really, really tough in life, but I will venture to say that even during those really tough moments if you try to be as lighthearted as possible, even within the circumstances, you’ll be happier. I mean, life will smile back at you. I don’t know. I think it’s a choice. It’s definitely a choice. You really have to decide to look through a positive lens. And even though that lens might be super dirty, you have to try your best to clean it and look through it in the best way possible.
Was there a time when you noticed that you were making a conscious choice to start doing that?
Yeah definitely, but I don’t always achieve that. You have to practice, and you have to catch yourself not doing it and go like, ‘Oh, s**t, I’m going that way. I shouldn’t.’ And sometimes you are f***ing upset, and it’s not that easy to see things through that lens, and during those times you have to let go a little bit like a pressure cooker, right? It is good as well to do that, to explode a little bit. I mean, as long as you don’t hurt anyone around you right? *laughs* You just try to do it privately. But I think it’s a part of life’s balance. Yeah, you try to look at things through the best lens possible. But when you can’t, that’s also okay. Like with my kids, sometimes they’re super upset, sometimes they feel frustrated, and we always tell them ‘My love, it is perfectly fine to have those feelings. It’s not wrong or right. It’s perfectly fine. You feel frustrated.’ They say, ‘I don’t want to talk to you, right now.’ I’m like, ‘perfect. I’m going to be next door.’ You also don’t want to suppress those feelings, right? Because that’s like brushing things under the rug, right? So you want to embrace those feelings. You want to embrace that sentiment, but you need to learn the best way to process those feelings. Oh my God, we’re going so deep right now.
No, I love this. You’ve also opened up a lot about how breathwork has helped you. Is that something that you’re still doing?
Yes. It’s Incredible. It was the best thing that I’ve ever done. I love it. Kevin is the reiki guy for our family, for my wife and myself. You’ve done Reiki, right?
No, I’ve never actually done it.
You have to do it. You have no idea. I’m telling you this is no BS. It’s like an out-of-body experience. It is insanely delicious. It gets to a point where you’re breathing, and you’re doing these tricks, and it’s everything with the breath, and it gets to a point where you stop breathing like you don’t need to breathe. It’s insane. And Kevin goes like, ‘Okay if I see that it’s been a long period and you’re not breathing, I’m going to tap you for you to remember to breathe.’ You get into such a state of mind and such a beautiful floating state of mind, and all of a sudden you take your last breath, and you stay there. You don’t inhale back, and you stay there. I don’t know, for maybe it’s 10 seconds, maybe it’s four minutes. I don’t know, because you’re so out that you don’t even know. And then I feel something like [a touch], and I started breathing again. It is incredible. You should it’s so cool.
I wanted to ask you, on the Man Enough podcast, I kind of watched you have this epiphany about your career and how you looked for acceptance from your father.
It actually happened on the show because my dad loved receiving celebrities like Kevin Costner and Opera Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and whatever. And I mean, when they visited us in our house in Acapulco, it was royalty, walking into the house, oh my God, my dad took the $5,000 red wine bottle and mariachi, and ‘I’m going to cook you a paella,’ and I’m going to do everything for you. And I’m like, ‘Oh, wow. He does that...’ so like daddy issues, right? Not that he didn’t love me, he loved me. I mean, I was his kid, and he adored me, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ So maybe subconsciously that’s why I was always probably chasing validity or chasing some sort of success in this business, right? Because I’m like maybe one day my dad will be proud of me.
Yeah, it was a really beautiful breakthrough to watch. I mean, also sad, but just looking at you now, I mean, you’re a straight-up pioneer for all of us.
If you could go back and revisit any of your roles and see where they’re at now, who would it be?
Well, Jane the Virgin, Jennie Urman said something really cool. Jennie Urman said that she wanted to do a limited season of 10 episodes where we all are 10 years after the show ended. And I think that would be brilliant. And of course, everything that comes out of Jennie Urman’s brain, it’s brilliant. So that could be a good idea.
I know we’re on strike, but in terms of anything else with your career, is there something we can look forward to or anything that you’re manifesting?
Well, I really hope that we get Schmigadoon! season three. Hopefully. It’s a beautiful show that I love to be a part of, and hopefully, I don’t know, but I mean hopefully, Apple will order more. I think there’s interest from them in doing a season three. So hopefully that will be a reality. And if it does, it would be super fun to do that show. And now the WGA reached an agreement, so they can go back to work right now and they can start. I mean if season three of Schmigadoon! were to happen, the writer’s room could open now.
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